This is a guest post by Bhavik Soni at “Auto Monkey”, provider of analysis of the latest happenings in the social media industry. All views/opinions expressed herein are that of the author. This Website may or may not agree with the same. All images supplied by the author.
Instagram is easily one of the most notable social media apps in the current generation, with a wide consumer pool. So, many businesses & regular users alike utilize this photo-sharing app to increase their engagement & brand popularity. Statistically, 55% of Instagram influencers utilize this platform to advertise their campaigns & boost followers.
The app itself has multiple usable benefits & features like:
Instagram Likes, in particular, are an essential part of the platform that the Instagram algorithm considers for engagement calculation. Statistically, Instagram notices approximately 4.2 billion likes every day on a global scale.
You can organically increase your likes for your post with time & effort & particular strategies. In this article, you will learn how to get Instagram Likes, the many tactics you can adopt to increase Likes, & why you should do so.
The Importance Of Instagram Likes
Currently, the platform is at the phase of completely removing the visible public Like counts from user’s posts. This practice began in 2019 & is currently active in several countries.
However, the feature is still important as a metric for internal measurement. For entrepreneurs & influencers, this is necessary analytics for:
- Measuring the customer engagement rate & brand popularity.
- Improving online traffic for their brand & gaining followers.
- Establishing an online presence.
- Staying ahead of the competition; more Like count prompts more users to follow the page over other options.
- Increasing overall conversion rates & leads generation.
- Promoting the brand, product, & service to potential prospects.
While the plan to remove Like counts was a humanitarian effort, the reception from the public has been divided. However, how does that answer the question of if Instagram Likes is still important?
In truth, it is highly vital since the app algorithm still measures the Likes on posts for engagement count. So, for businesses & influencers on Instagram, increasing Instagram Likes is an important action.
Ways To Boost Your Likes Effectively
The following are the most notable tactics you can adopt to properly improve your overall post-specific Likes over time.
Create an online contest with Like-based voting
Typically, brands gain a lot of traction with their user base through contest giveaways and sales. Consumers opt for such competitions regularly with a winning prize possibility.
Here, you should focus on ease of use in terms of content participation.
For example, ask the viewers to post an image on Instagram & mention to the viewers they have to tag a friend, follow and like to enter the contest.
Liking a post is the bare minimum standard, so, many users do it easily. Thus, this would effectively increase engagement rates.
Add the correct hashtags
On Instagram, hashtags are effective for reaching your post to target prospects & increasing the engagement rate. Users who do not generally follow your account would notice your post on your feed through the hashtags. However, make sure to add relevant hashtags to your post.
Topic-based hashtags hold high engagement potential, followed by other types like seasonal, service, location, & acronym hashtags. Statistically, experts suggest keeping at least 11 hashtags or fewer for each post.
Ask users to tag their connections
Most users share the posts they see & like on their feed with their close friends & fellow Instagrammers. Plus, many people repost the post on their Stories or directly send the post to their friends via DM.
Thus, after posting a photo on Instagram, you should prompt the viewers to tag their friends if they found it interesting. Typically, users respond to this more if the post itself has an engaging point, like humorous memes or thoughtful quotes. Indeed, if the users genuinely find it interesting, they would share it.
So, consider the kind of content you are posting carefully first. Additionally, directly prompting your viewers to tag others would work with most of your followers compared to if you do not mention anything.
Tag the suitable users
When you are tagging another account holder, you should make sure you are including the right person. To explain, this applies to other collaborators or a personality that the post relates to.
Additionally, if your posts feature other content creators, you are promoting, tag them in the post. Not only would they appreciate the value you show them, but also their followers would notice it. This would automatically increase your Likes count.
Plus, some of them may tag your brand in their posts, which would improve your online traffic indirectly.
Tag the location of the post
For a retail or travel-oriented post, it is crucial to add the location in the post. So, whenever an Instagram user would search for a specific location, they would notice your content. To boost followers, visitor counts, and likes, this is an efficient tactic.
Additionally, you can post photos on Instagram about different service providers, like restaurants. This way, when people search for such establishments, they would see and Like your post if the content is appealing.
Post consistently
To grow the customer reach & improve the number of Likes, you need to stay consistent with your posting speed & timing. The Instagram algorithm displays posts based on how recently it was posted. Consumers who are active at the time would notice the post & press the Like button.
So, as a content creator, you should consider the timeline when your general or target audience would come online. Focus on your personalized analytics to get an idea about the period when your followers come online.
Typically, post your content around 11 a.m. each morning or a particular day. The timing is subjective, so research it first or experience the posting times early on. Then, maintain a consistent flow for all your posts.
Create compelling captions
You should develop an original & relevant caption to pair with your photo content on Instagram. Generally, a funny and short caption gets more likes on this platform than a long summary or message.
However, understand your audience first & then create a caption that they can relate to. Instead of generic captions, the right voice & tone of the caption would gain Likes & engagement with loyal & casual viewers alike.
Follow a trend or meme
Memes are highly effective in grabbing the attention of users. In fact, particular content creators create & run accounts centered around memes entirely.
Funny & anecdotal content pulls high customer traffic & would get you multiple likes. So, you should post related content occasionally.
To note, you should consider your audience type before carrying out this strategy. If they are not familiar with the trend/meme or find it inconsistent with the company’s original objective, this strategy can fall flat.
User-generated content
Highlight the content of your followers as well to gain more Likes & improve customer loyalty. Here, users would connect to your brand more if you post their content as an appreciation post. They would also promote your content to their followers, thus increasing your Likes count.
To note, you should give credit to the user for their content.
As a brand, this strategy would showcase your connectedness to your followers & improve your image.
In Conclusion: Overall, adopt these strategies & increase the Likes count of your posts on Instagram. It will increase your brand worth & customer reach & ultimately increase profit. Also, focus on creativity for the content as well. Experiment with your posts to keep user customer attention.